There are some jobs where, however talented you might be, convention dictates that the idea is not to be too busy.

Like a hazmat specialist or a coroner, for example.

Scott Harding knows this full well because he has one of them: He is the University of Hawaii’s punter.

And business, just like some of his punts, has been booming this year.

The former Australian Rules player has turned the running, guess-where-I’m putting-it rugby-style punt into an art form — one that, by necessity, he has had to mass produce.

He leads the punters of the 125 major colleges in activity this season with 34 punts in four games. The next busiest of the lot has 31. (By contrast, Tim Grasso punted only 35 times in 13 games during the 2007 season as Hawaii reached the Sugar Bowl.)

Even for someone who is ambipedal, meaning he is able to punt with either foot, 8.5 punts per game constitutes plenty of work.

And that’s the rub for the 1-3 Rainbow Warriors. Because, as Harding acknowledges, "If I’m punting a lot, that’s probably not a good sign for the team."

It generally means, for example, that the offense is struggling, which has definitely been the case for the ‘Bows, who are 115th among those 125 teams in third-down conversions, making good on just 29.3 percent of those opportunities.

When they don’t convert, No. 29 is summoned. Sometimes as often as 11 times in a game this season.

The way Harding looks at it, he’s there to "help soften the blow to some extent (by) helping us to get the best field position out of it that we can."

With an average of 42.1 yards per punt this season, including boots of 56, 58 and 64 yards and 13 inside the opponents’ 10-yard line, he has given the over-burdened defense something to work with.

It is why, even after absorbing a painful shot to an already sore left ankle from a defender and limping off the field in the second quarter of Saturday’s 21-12 loss at Colorado, there would be no keeping Harding out of the contest.

"As soon as I get outside the box, I’m fair game. I know those are the rules and I try and hold (the ball) as long as I can," Harding said. "Sometimes, they can beat me up a little bit after the punt, but that is just part of it and I’ll be fine."

Good enough, it turned out, to average 46.1 yards per punt at CU when he wasn’t handling his other chores, returning them or catching a pass.

At this rate he’ll surpass his punt total for 2013 (56) easily. Then looms a record he’d rather not pursue and the ‘Bows prefer he not have to break on their account: Chad Shrout’s mark for punts in a season. Shrout set it with 82 in 1998, UH’s infamous 0-12 campaign.

"I enjoy punting," Harding said. "I like going out there and seeing what I can do to help. But, when you think about it, the better we’re doing, then less I’m probably out there," Harding said.

Spoken like a man who is good at his job but wouldn’t mind having to prove it a little less often.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.